echappist

On my ride today, my friend and i passed a rider who seems to be racing for one of the local clubs. we actually ran into him about an hour earlier at a coffee shop and exchanged brief pleasantries, and it just so happens that we ran into him again a bit later. When he was sucking wheel, he said quite a few things, ranging from mildly annoying to straight up racist. In addition to being a jerk to fellow racers, he was also taunting other riders he passed on the road. I was thinking of contacting his club's president and the local bike racing chapter's president, but i would like to hear how others would approach this.

As for the actual story, nothing seemed unusual at the beginning, and my friend and i figured that he's just some rider who wanted a tow (i was coming to the 20th minute of my 30-min long threshold effort). He then pulled alongside my teammate and started chatting. I'm not quite sure what was exchanged as i was doing my best to maintain power. All the sudden i hear him say "i once had a restaurant in New Haven and hired this Yalie; she was horrible." Obnoxious, but nothing out of line there. Then i heard him say: hiring her was a bad idea, followed by a racist remark. This took me aback a bit, not the least because it was on par with what Donald Sterling said.

My friend and i were somewhat surprised and didn't say a word. After "small talking"/harassing my friend, he pulls next to me and start yabbering again, first saying "it must be tough to be a graduate in this economy," which was in reference to my Columbia kit. I didn't say anything back. On the next roller, there were two other riders ahead (neither of whom seemed to be a bike racer). As he attacked the roller, he gave the other two riders "the look" and yelled at these two riders something along the lines of pump it, move those legs.

Again he ran out of juice and i passed him again. His next line (noticing that my jersey was flapping): it ain't that hot; what is this, your first summer in the DC area? He kept on trying to trash talk, but i wouldn't respond. Then he lets out: oh i guess English must be your second language.

On the final roller (and 3 min before my interval was done), he yells out: it's not how much power you got, but how smooth you are. Mr. Smooth then takes off, only to be reeled back shortly. As we were passing another rider, he taunted this rider as well.

I can't remember too much of what else he was saying after the roller and when i pulled off the road for the end of my interval, but it was just a barrage of nonsensical trash talking.

While my friend and I both thought about contacting his club and our regional bike racing chapter about this, i would like to hear how others may approach something like this. Had it been just annoying taunts, i'd have been fine with it, but he was being racist and being a jerk to the general population.

jsutkeepspining

normally if someone really bugs me i just drop them by riding just hard enough that i can still talk, but they are forced to ride hard. Then they stop bugging me.

I don't think contacting his racing chapter's president is really the right thing to do. It won't do anything, and will more just be a waste of time. I would simply say "meh, he's a fool" and try to not to interact with him.

jsutkeepspining

people like that generally tend to inadvertently alienate themselves from everyone and things work out fine in the long run.

jsutkeepspining

or you could jut tell him to suck your dick

echappist

lol.

i think not talking to him pissed him off more than anything else.

also, if anyone think this may be a bit sensitive to discuss in a forum, feel free to PM me

Wanderer

Contact his sponsor, and let them know how negatively it affected their product.......................

botto 

leakage.

globecanvas

I would ignore him. As you did. Mission accomplished!

grolby

I think ignoring is mostly the right strategy, with the exception being that I think the most appropriate response to the racist comments is to call him on it, loudly and explicitly. Guys like this think it's okay to spout off that drivel because silence comes across to them as tacit agreement. You can't make them not racist, but you can help make them too ashamed to be a dick publicly.

zymphad

Sadly he didn't take the hint.

save10

you need to drope the hammer next time

mattm

41 lashings!








In all seriousness, ignoring him was the best move.

Ygduf

man, some adolescents on fixies started talking **** to me on my way home the other day as I passed them. I brake checked myself back into their group, and as they all scrambled trying to not eat **** and fall over I was like "What?!" and pretended to be clueless.

Then I rode away faster than they could go so they could not retaliate.

Were I being harassed by this guy I'd probably push him into a curb and run away. I'm big enough to cause harm, but not really brave. Either way you can't just let someone be racist and talk **** and ruin your day.

RoadTire 

After enough of his trashing everyone I think you should have called him out. My typical response to jerks is a disgusted look and tone saying something like, "hey, why not just knock it off and leave everyone enjoy their day..." At least I then know I am making an attempt, and go from their.

phoebeisis

There is no cure for folks like him.
But on the bright side-he is himself 24/7
Ignore or just "politely grunt" at him.

globecanvas

The ideal combination of big enough to push someone over and high enough FTP to run away from them.

kindablue

Call him out on it..., "What the hell is wrong with you, that's racist. Go away."
Seems like he was seeking some kind of validation from you two.
He'll probably be pissed after that but if he has any sort of conscious he'll probably think twice before bringing that up on a ride again. He most likely started talking that that in the first place because he got some reinforcement from others in the past to continue talking like that.

In general, I think we try avoiding offending people but in some instances that instant reinforcement has a better chance of evoking some change.

shovelhd

He's a moron. Not worth the brain cells. Focus on the intervals.

MDcatV

sorry, I was just joking around :-)

honestly, I don't know the exchange that took place or the context of it, but contacting the club the guy rides on is the way to go. tell whomever you contact the name of the rider if you can, or if no name, description of rider and bike, they can probably pick him out if he's an active member rather than someone who still has a kit from several years ago and is no longer on the squad.

I wouldn't go into how they disturbed your interval, that's kind of just fred noise, but if they were spouting off insults without knowing you, saying things that were offensive, and essentially harassing you (and others), i'm pretty sure that their club would want to know.

you know that I'm in a team captain role, so speaking as someone in a leadership position on my club, if it were someone on my squad, it reflects poorly on me. I'd want to know so that I could address it and nip it, now.

sijray21

+1 on ignoring

i'd be tempted to reach out to their sponsor on social media and mention something. It will get them into some heat within their own team as we have had problems in the past. Unfortunately the person who complained confused a different team with ours when our teams had very similar names and color schemes.

happybday29475

lol - you can never win a fight with fudgy

therhodeo

The only person I've dealt with like that was within our own group. He was a creepy guy who constantly asked women in our group to go on camping trips with him. Most of those girls were either married or in college (20 years+ younger than him). I called him out 25 miles out on a ride and told him he was no longer welcome with us and when I got back the rest of the club backed me and told him to stay away. I probably wouldn't have the patience to not say something out on the road if someone was talking like the guy in this thread though.

modelmartin

I vote for calling these types out. They need to know that good people do not share his views and that his behavior is not acceptable.

Ygduf

agree. shame is a tool to wield on these people. if no one speaks up, he'll just be out harassing someone else tomorrow.

JohnKScott

This...

Then this...